Crazy Dragon - Into Thin Air ((Plottage OMG! :O))
By
Crazy_Dragon,
Posted on: 2008-08-06 21:56 in Roleplaying
A couple of days later...
"Are you sure we're even gonna find anything now?" Richie raised a brow at the busy Molly Longstaff, who had offered to help the hapless hero get to the bottom of his recent issues with Thin Air. Lately, while objects have been easy to throw into the pocket dimension, they've been proving difficult to remove. When he opened a larger portal to demonstrate something to Psysan, he noticed a set of glowing eyes within the otherwise empty void.
Molly had brought a camera drone she had been assembling in her spare time and connected it to Richie's computer via a USB cable she added on top of the original design, setting it away hovering as Richie opened a new portal.
"Richie, Richie, Richie..." the pink-clad genius giggled as she sent the drone into the portal. "You really need to try optimism sometime, you know?" As the drone floated into the endless void of Thin Air, the video feed remained completely black, save for the bright white flare at the bottom of the picture.
"I did. Look where it got me."
Molly rolled her eyes as she steered the drone around the void. For several long and boring minutes, perhaps made even more excruciating for Richie when Molly started humming, the drone caught nothing with its own camera, until finally, Molly was greeted with a pale-skinned face on the camera's feed. "Hey, I found... some -one-..."
"What? Lemme see..." Richie rushed to take a good look at the monitor, witnessing the strange, pointy-eared girl in the video feed float away from the drone slightly. For a moment, it appeared as if the girl was trying to speak to the drone, but given the lack of any form of atmosphere within the void and the fact that Molly neglected to fit the microphone in an effort to assemble the drone quickly for this job, neither of then could make out what she was saying. "Ack! Can't you lip read, Molly?"
"Nope." Molly frowned slightly. "Never could get that working..." Richie blinked at Molly's comment briefly before returning his attention back to the video feed. By now, the girl was beginning to appear distressed, tears running down her cheeks as her attempts to communicate with the lifeless drone proved an exercise in futility. A concerned Molly pulled the drone back slightly to get a better view of the strange girl. However, this only prompted her to lunge toward it, hugging it as tightly as she could. "Uh-oh... Houston, we have a problem, baby! We gotta cut the drone loose, quick!"
Richie grabbed Molly's wrist, blocking her attempt to disconnect the drone from the USB port and toss the rest of the cable in, which would have allowed Richie to close the portal. "Wait a second! You want to trap her in there?"
"We don't know what she is, Richie!" Molly yelled. "OR what she's capable of if she gets out! We -need- to close that portal quick befo-"
Too late. The girl burst through the portal, into this world with all the force she could muster at the time, the drone still held tightly in her arms. A surprised Richie and Molly looked on as she tumbled along the floor, the wall proving to be her best brake. Richie release Molly's arm, rushing over to the strange girl.
"Hey," Richie said, kneeling down and trying his utmost best not to scare the girl. "Are you... okay there?" For Richie however, his best in these situations was just never good enough, as he learned when the girl looked at Richie before scrambling away from him.
"Wh-who are y-you?" The girl clearly understood and could speak English, it appeared. "Wh-where am I?"
"I'm Ri-" Richie was interrupted by an overly cautious Molly.
"Richie, be careful, will you!?" she barked to the hopeless hero, as she jumped from her chair. "We don't even know why she was even in there in the first place!" The unusually harsh tone Molly spoke to Richie in clearly scared the girl, who suddenly scarpered for the door.
"D-don't hurt me!" she yelled. "D-don't send me back... back there! I-I don't want to go back!"
"Woah there," Richie's efforts to calm the girl were... pathetic at best. "We're not going to hurt you, okay? And really, we wouldn't shove you back in there, right?" Although the 'right?' was directed at Molly, she remained silent, keeping a keen eye on the girl as she shuffled closer to the door.
"Richie..." Molly finally answered. "Until we know what she's capable of, and what her intentions are now she's in this world, she's too dangerous right now." By this point the girl began to cling to the door handle as Richie, glanced back at Molly, showing a clear disapproval of what Molly just said. "We need to keep her detained for no..."
"NO!!" The girl swung the door open violently and rushed out into the wider world. Richie merely facepalmed.
"Nice one, Molly!" Richie barked as he rushed out the door to begin his search. Molly remained behind, letting out a quiet sigh as she returned to the computer. Staring at the portal as it finally dwindled into nothingness in Richie's absence, Molly sent a message to Eric.
Eric, I need you to look for someone...
-------------
Thin Air. Now that the girl had finally escaped into Richie's world, all was silent once more. All except a single deep booming voice that fell on non-existant ears across the entire void:
I... HAVE... FAILED...
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
"Gemma?" Richie charged out of the apartment building with his phone glued to his ear, frantically looking for the girl. "Oh, don't start! Look, I need all hand on deck... some small pale girl... dressed in black, black hair, pointy ears... Oh come ON! How many small, pointy-eared elf-girl-things have you seen running around the city?" Richie then charged across Freedom Court - on foot - as he continued his converstaion with his sister.
-----
I'm afraid this is proving quite difficult, Miss. Eric's search for anyone matching the girl's description proved somewhat fruitless, leaving Molly to search from the skies above Galaxy.
Okay, Eric, you did your best, all things considered. Molly sighs as she soared over the streets of Galaxy. The few readings Molly was able to pick up just weren't quite enough to easily pluck out the girl from the masses down on the streets, metahuman and non-metahuman alike.
-----
The girl looked around at the various people walking the streets, both curious as to why their height greatly exceeded her own, and scared of what they were capable off.
This is not the world I remember... she thought to herself. Everything is... different. Too different.
It was then that the girl spotted the large statue overlooking Freedom Court. She looked on in awe at the gargantuan representation of Galaxy Girl, before being interrupted by the sadistic yelling of a couple of Hellions behind her, attempting to break into a random car. This was the push she needed to make her way to that statue. She didn't know why, but somehow, it seemed a lot safer than where she was right now.
----
SEVERAL HOURS LATER
Richie was worn out. He'd been rushing all over Galaxy trying to find the girl, while Gemma scouted Kings Row. Molly herself had just about given up and was in the process of piecing together a missing poster, ready to print as soon as she got back to her place. After a quick and fruitless visit to Galaxy Girl, Richie though it best to check out the MAGI offices. Richie lazily pushed the doors of the FC building open, letting out a quiet yawn as he did. No sooner had he entered the building was he greeted with the sight of the girl herself, struggling to find her own way around the place. Richie cautiously took a few steps toward her, trying his best not to scare her like Molly managed too. That hadn't quite gone to plan.
The girl spotted Richie as he approached, taking a few steps back to keep some distane. Richie just facepalmed.
"Look," Richie said, as a few bystanders looked on with arched brows. "I'm not gonna hurt you, or lock you up, okay?" The girl continued to step back. Richie then raised his own brow and placed his hand on his arms. "...Am I that scary?"
"Y-yes..." The girl finally spoke, prompting Richie to facepalm again. "B-but this world is... is scary."
"Well, I think I'd be scared to death if I found myself in a completely different world for no obvious reason, but..." Richie paused for a second, realising that that didn't quite match her current situation. Not that he knew for certain what that situation was. For a start, Richie didn't know -what- the girl was or where exactly she came from other than that she's been in Thin Air long enough to want out pretty badly.
"I-I think this is the... the world I left, b-but... it has ch-changed... it had changed far too... too much."
"You left..." Richie paused again, blinking at the girl. After a short while, he made a few more steps toward the girl, prompting her to take a similar number of steps back again. "Look... why don't you come back to my place again? You can explain everything there, if you want... plus it's a lot safer than even this dump." That single sentence caused a few more raised brows from the staff in the building. "I promise I won't hurt you, and I won't stop you from leaving at any time. I just wouldn't recommend it." The girl looked at Richie, curious as to why he was even offering. For a moment, she considered the possibility that he was lying, that he would lock her up in far worse conditions than her old prison. Eventually she shook that thought out of her head. He was right, she thought. She just wasn't safe where she was right now, and if this man was lying to her, with the intent of capturing her for whatever possible evils he could be capable of, it was bound to be easier to escape than Thin Air. After much thought, she finally appraoched Richie, remaining cautious.
"O-okay... I'll re-return to your... your..." The girl struggled to decide on a term for the place Richie mentioned, unfamiliar with apartments and all that.
"Right." Richie nodded. "It's not far... you've probably already figured that out though." The girl giggled nervously as she followed him out of the door. As they headed back to the apartment building she ran from earlier, another thought crossed her mind.
Am I making the right decision here?
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
The girl sat on Richie's sofa, still near as good as the day he bought it, her tiny legs dangling over the floor and a glass of filtered water in her hands. Richie sat opposite on the floor, assuming a lotus position on the floor.
"So... you, erm, up for explaining what you are exactly?" Richie enquired. The girl looked up at Richie briefly before starting at her glass once more.
"I-I..." the girl stuggled to answer coherently.
"Well," Richie cut in. "What's your name, for a start?" The girl blinked at Richie again.
"I-I... it's been so... so long. I-I can't..." The girl suddenly noticed something on her arm. Scars from long ago, but not like any normal scars. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to form the name Isabella, which she then informed Richie of.
"Isabella, huh?" Richie pondered for a moment, "Wouldn't that kind of mean that..."
"Y-yes, I-I was human on... once... I-I think..." Richie raised a brow.
"So how'd you manage to get into..."
"I-It was long a...ago. I-It is difficult to... to remember everything that has h-happened. A-all I remember is... is that it w-was not my ch-choice. I-I was imprisoned against my... my will."
"Any idea how long?" The girl shook her head at Richie's question.
"Four... Four... Fourteen..." Isabella struggled to remember the exact year, before finally giving up. As soon as she did, she clutched her glass as tightly as possible, bursting into tears on the sofa. Richie sighed as he got to his feet and stepped over to the girl.
"Okay, there's no rush, okay?" Richie tried his best to calm Isabella, who by now was curling up into as tight a ball as possible. "...Okay... I won't as any more stupid questions, okay?" Eventually, she calmed down slightly, but was still somewhat tearful.
"I-I... I cannot remember..."
"Just... just don't worry about that now... I mean, the important thing is you're free again, right?" By that point, Molly returned to Richie's door, still wearing her trademark nanotech suit.
"Okay, I've had -NO- luck whatsoever, so I'm just gonna..." Molly stopped herself as soon as she noticed Richie trying to calm Isabella. "Ah." Richie raised a brow at Molly, before turning back to Isabella.
"I'll be back in a bit, think you can manage calming down a little more while I'm gone?" Richie half-joked, but Isabella nodded nonetheless. Richie then stepped past the girl and approached Molly, appearing somewhat bemused at her. "Okay, I want a word with you..."
-----
I... HAVE... FAILED...
The deep booming voice continued to repeat itself for some time, before it finally announced something else to itself.
ISABELLA... MUST... RETURN...
-----
Up until the first instance of Richie's troubles with Thin Air, he beleived nothing else existed in there besides whatever he sent there himself. Even with all of Richie's stuff, as well as the prisoner Isabella herself back into this world, Thin Air remained far from empty...
Within the void resided something far greater. A gargantuan construction that remained fixed in the same spot. Fixed to the same spot for centuries and will continue to do so. This strange construction resembled a fortress of sorts. However, this fortress was not contructed from any of the usual materials, it's 'stones' appearing smooth as a diamond, yet black as coal. In fact, every part of it was just... black. Even the grass surrounding seemed to be as black as it could get. Within the walls of this 'obsidian fortress' a pale-skinned, black-haired woman, dressed in a plain black dress, stormed into one of its many halls, completely empty, save for a single altar, matching the void-black of the rest of the fortress.
Isabella must return... The thought ran through this woman's mind repeatedly as she made her way toward the altar.
Isabella must return... those that freed her must pay... The woman then reached the altar, holding out both her hands. After a while, a dark, cloud swirled into existence beneath her hands. Once more, the woman spoke. However, her human voice gradually distorted into the deep booming voice as she uttered her next sentence:
"They... must... PAY..."
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
"Okay, Molly," Richie piped up in the hallway of his apartment, away from Isabella. "What the hell were you playing at?" Molly, herself leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, seemed reluctant to answer. "Well?"
"You mean the whole 'let's detain her' thi-"
"Yeah." Richie cut in. "The whole 'Oh, let's ignore that she's just thrown herself out of one prison and is completely scared half to death, let's toss her into another one' thing." Molly facepalmed.
"Okay, okay, it was kinda stupid of me, alright?"
"Yeah..." Richie answered, prompting Molly to look at him through the gap between her index and middle fingers.
"Rub it in, why don't you..." she muttered as she pulled her hand away, "I'm sorry, okay? I guess I kinda had my 'commander head' screwed on there, if you know what I mean."
"Commander... head?" Richie raised a brow. Molly, on the other hand, couldn't keep her laughter in for very long, but managed to keep her trademark giggling quiet.
"Yeah, it's been a totally messy month, you know?"
"Right... anyway..."
"What are you gonna do with her?" Molly asked. All Richie could do was shrug.
"I've no idea, to be honest. Although something tells me it's going to involve a shedload of paperwork..." Molly frowned at Richie's, who responded with a raised brow. "...What, Molly?"
"Well..." Molly tried to answer without annoying Richie again. "Don't you wanna know why she was in there?" Now it was Richie's turn to frown.
"Yeah, but there's an easy way to find out."
"And that's..."
"Talking to her." Richie's comment simply made Molly roll her eyes.
"You already tried that, haven't you?"
"Yeah..." Richie scratched his head. Molly raised a brow at him. "Okay, she says she can't remember much."
"Right... I'd suggest getting her checked out at the lab, buuut... this is all magic stuff, I doubt I'd find mu..." Molly stopped herself and facepalmed. "There I go again! Okay, I'm shutting up now!" Richie couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't worry. You're probably right. I know someone who might be able to, though."
"Who's that?"
"Shadowcrash."
--------------
Several days later...
Selina Barton stared at the cup for some time, deep in thought. When she finally returned to the land of the living, she prompty downed the remaining contents, before placing it onto her desk. As her hands left the cup, it swiftly faded from existence in front of Richie's eyes. The cup wasn't real, Richie was certain of that. As much as he was certain the woman called Shadowcrash wasn't among the living.
"Damn, Richie." Shadowcrash announced as she watched the cup disappear. "You really have that knack for getting yourself into some crazy situations, don't you?" Richie facepalmed. That wasn't what he wanted to hear from his tutor after he railed off everything he could to explain his situation. "Okay, okay... I think it's safe to say you did -a- right thing by coming to me, I guess."
"For once." Richie answered as he rolled his eyes. Making the right choices wasn't quite his strong suit - if the past eight months working in Paragon taught him anything useful, it was most certainly that. Shadowcrash frowned at Richie. He could never do a good job of hiding his frustration at his past mistakes or the fact that he was doubting his own abilities more and more by the day.
"Will you stop that?"
"Stop what?" Richie blinked at Selina's sudden response.
"That. That whole 'I suck!' attitude you've had since you started coming here. It's starting to get on my nerves... well, if I still had nerves, it would, but it's... you get the idea."
"Well, it's ju..."
"AH-AH-AH!!" Shadowcrash cut in before Richie could continue, before placing an elbow on her desk and resting her head on her fist. "Richie, lemme put it this way, if you truly sucked you wouldn't have lived long enough to run into those Malta goons the other week. Am I right, or am I right?"
"I suppose..." Richie muttered. Shadowcrash rolled her eyes.
"Am... I... right?"
"I could ha..."
"RICHARD STACKER!!" Selina bellowed. He voice must have echoed across the whole of Salamanca's campus.
"YES!" Richie yelped in shock as he fell backward in his chair. It wasn't every day she got ticked off, and when she did, boy did you know about it. "You're right, okay, okay, okay!"
"Good." she said with a smirk. "Now, here's what I'm gonna do. I'll be in the city in a few days, so I'll pop by your place and have the girl checked out. Sounding good, so far?"
"Aye..." Richie was still trying to pick himself up from the floor as he answered.
"Great. Anything else?" By the time she asked, Richie was finally on his feet.
"Not that I know of."
"So why are you still here?" Shadowcrash asked with a raised brow and a smile as she reached for a full cup of coffee that had somehow appeared on the desk. She had said it in jest, but she was pretty much right. There was nothing else to discuss, and there was little point in Richie staying there much longer. Richie made a hasty exit, muttering something to himself. As soon as he was gone, Selina took a sip from the new cup, before sitting back and staring at the cieling.
...
"Like a damn broken record, that kid."
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
Thin Air. A pocket dimension that betrays its name by quite simply being an airless void, bereft of everything - celestial bodies included - bar several items belonging to Richie Stacker, the Crazy Dragon. Or so he thinks.
What Richie, or anyone else before him that had access to Thin Air for that matter, didn't know, was that it wasn't as empty as they had originally thought.
This strange pale-skinned girl, dressed almost entirely in black, floated about aimlessly in the harsh vacuum of this dimension, strangely enough surviving without trouble in spite of the lack of any form of atmosphere, her matching long hair waving behind her, revealing her pointed ears to nobody in particular. As she floated about in the seemingly endless expanse of Thin Air, something caught her eye. Despite the lack of any form of natural light, this didn't stop the artificial light of a handheld torch, left switched on as it hovered in space. The girl's curiosity got the better of her as she floated over to the flashlight and grabbed it, accidentally shining it in her own face. She learned quickly, though, pointing the torch in various directions and revealing many other items, including a book that she promptly grabbed and attempted to read. However, as she did, an unseen force attempted to take it back from her. This had only served to force the girl to hold onto the book somewhat more tightly, refusing to let it fall from her own hands.
"Give... it... here... you..." A strange mufffled voice could suddenly be heard all over the girl's immediate area. The girl frantically looked around, maintaining her tight grip on the tome.
Who's there? she thought to herself. For what felt like centuries, the girl beleived that she was the only one around, that nobody else existed in this endless void.
"Just... for cryin' out loud... GIVE IT!" The muffled voice grew angrier as the book slowly began to fade from the girl's hands. At that moment, the girl realised she was still alone, that the voice was coming from another world, possibly her own. She doubted this, however, as she didn't recognise the accent at all. It didn't matter to her though as she made one last attempt to keep the book.
Please don't leave me here! she thought to herself as she continued her attempt, Take me as well... Take me away from here... I don't want to be here any more! Eventually the book was finally gone, as was the muffled voice, leaving her alone once again. For some time, the girl sat in the void among the rest of the junk floating about, her face in her hands as she burst into tears.
I don't want to be trapped here any more...
After a while, she looked up again, glancing about the junk dotted around her. She soon noticed two strange sword-like objects, their blades glowed a clear see-through red as the light from the torch bounced off them, and almost as soon as she spotted them, they too began to suddenly fade.
"Come on, Richie, you can do this..." the muffled voice could be heard once more, prompting the girl to make a grab for the blades herself, hoping she would be pulled into that very world along with them. Sadly, like the book before, they disappeared, leaving the girl empty-handed and alone once again. Over time, she repeated her efforts each time she saw one of the random objects fade out of Thin Air, and each time they proved in vain until there was nothing left but herself and the torch.
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff